Turnover - Magnolia

Turnover - MagnoliaRelease Date: April 16, 2013
Record Label: Run For Cover Records

It’s a fucking travesty that this is just now being reviewed. Sorry. I am so very, stupidly, ashamedly sorry. Because Turnover poured their fucking hearts out into a record called Magnolia, and at the very least, it deserves for me to write a yell-y review with lots of f-words in it. Look, life gets in the way. It’s just how it is. I was reminded the other day by (of course) Dan “Soupy” Campbell, how integral music is to our so-called lives, and how fucking ignorant we are to the process. So this isn’t amends, because Turnover are a pop-punk band and will do just fine without me nor did they ask me to help, but Magnolia will rip your heart out, shock it back to life, and stitch up your wounds in a pattern that simply reads, “FIXED.”

Also, what the hell, how is this record still not on Spotify? I admit to not understanding the legal or logistical ramifications of getting your music on Spotify, but come on peeps, let’s stream this shizz to the world.

Sorry about that. Again. Let’s talk “Shiver,” and the words, “Three days passed since I last saw you face to face.” There’s no winning here; it’s all one big horrible loss. But it’s not so in your face that you can’t listen without feeling like you’re on the wrong end of a emotional breakdown. It’s lines like, “I don’t miss much about being home / But I miss the sounds of your dogs barking,” that tap right into the little things that make separation so big. Turnover may get more metaphorical, like on “Most of the Time” or standout “Bloom” (which I cannot describe because I don’t know how to type out the sound I make when I cry), but the point here is darkly-tinged, refreshingly mid-tempo cuts about being cut deep.

On the band’s self-titled debut, there just wasn’t much of an “it” factor, all the way down to the lonely suburban street on the cover. Magnolia reeks of pop-punk ascendance, though. Heck there are even some guitar solos! Bands grow up all the time, but growing up sucks. What Turnover have done (and proof of this can be found on the ingenious Smashing Pumpkins-meets-Transit track “Hollow”) is just expect too much from the wrong people. It sucks when people disappoint you, and sometimes becoming jaded is the only thing to do. But what’s even worse is when you know you should be jaded, but just can’t muster it. Turnover don’t have a thick skin, and it makes their version of pop-punk all the more fragile and beautiful.

I often wonder if bands write songs to “become” the closer. “Daydreaming” seems like one of those tracks with its quiet-to-loud moments and lyrics like, “I waste my time and imagine that I haven’t been stuck for so long / I wish that I was less wrong about that.” Austin Getz keeps his most devastating lyrics for the end, just as the song seems to gain in aggression. And with the final words, “I’ll just fall back asleep tonight” and not much resolution, Turnover leave us alone and confused, a feeling that they have spent the last half hour expressing over difficult to hear (I mean emotionally), but completely necessary tunes. Magnolia's an album that feels like it was forced out of circumstance. It's clear Turnover couldn’t help but make it. What I’m not so sure about is if these guys could write an album like Magnolia ever again. But maybe that’s for the best.

This has beaten every other album, including The Greatest Generation, to become my favourite this year.
The lyrics in Shiver got to me, as someone who was at university, away from my girlfriend. And then I heard Most Of The Time. That song is as close to perfection as I have heard this year. When he sings "Losing touch with what surrounds you, I just don't feel like myself anymore", it hit me hard.
I cannot urge people to check this out and support the band enough.

Sameee, I like all the other stuff they've done but I just can't get into it. That's why pre-ordering before hearing the whole album sucks haha but they're pretty good dudes so they deserve all the success that's coming to them anyway

Was not into their old stuff at all but this was a huge watershed moment. I don't even know if I would necessarily call it pop-punk, no less file it with a band like Real Friends. It's closer to a solid overview of the last 15 years of emo, the ironic part of that being that it just doesn't sound heartfelt enough to me in spite of what everyone else here is saying, like these dudes were super fatigued when they tracked it or something. Still, definitely good stuff all around.